Voyager 7x11 "Shattered"

rating: ****

the story: Chakotay finds the ship shattered into different time periods.

what it's all about: Sure, "Shattered" is a bit like Next Generation's final episode, "All Good Things...," where Q has Picard hopping between the past, present and future, but it stands uniquely on its own as a clever and fun episode, revisiting various signposts from throughout Voyager's seven seasons.  We do see a future, where Icheb and Naomi have grown up and have become the second generation to run the ship, and we see Seven when she was still a Borg drone, and we see Janeway from just before "Caretaker" (first episode, dude). 

But my favorite part?  One last reprise of Seska.  Seska was the signature arc of the first two seasons, the Cardassian who posed as a Bajoran in order to infiltrate the Maquis, and thus betraying in her defection to the Kazon not only the crew as a whole, but Chakotay, with whom she'd been close.  She technically met her end in the third season premiere, "Basics, Part 2," but returned via a holodeck program she'd booby-trapped in "Worst Case Scenario" at the end that season.

For a second time, she gets another chance to finish the job, and really, it's just confirmation that Seska remains a signature villain of the series, in case anyone had forgotten or simply roped her in with her Kazon allies, whom many fans didn't really care for.

That it's a Chakotay episode is awesome, since he had nothing much to do with "Worst Case," nor "Basics, Part 2," despite being so important to the arc and character previously.  This was a point when he'd receded far into the background, and hadn't been particularly relevant except in his spotlight episodes since...basically the second season.  But Chakotay was king of spotlight episodes.  He could sell any concept, and seemed to get a good share of the truly interesting ones, like this one.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Shades of a classic final episode here.
• series - Reflects back on the journey without being a clip show, which is itself clever.
• character - Chakotay, and Seska, are well-served.
• essential - Seeing Seska again is a great reminder of how important she was to the show.

notable guest-stars:
Martha Hackett (Seska)
Manu Intiraymi (Icheb)
Scarlett Pomers (Naomi)
Martin Rayner (Chaotica)

Voyager 5x12 "Bride of Chaotica!"

rating: ****

the story: The holodeck adventures of Captain Proton become real when aliens who are in essence holograms themselves discover their existence...!

what it's all about: "Bride of Chaotica!" is part of a fine Star Trek tradition of farces that seem like they really shouldn't work, but they're so fun they're hard not to love.  The original series and Deep Space Nine shared one, essentially ("The Trouble with Tribbles," "Trials and Tribble-ations," respectively), while Next Generation had "A Fistful of Datas" and Enterprise "In a Mirror, Darkly."  Captain Proton had debuted at the start of the fifth season, but basing a whole episode around him worked out wonderfully.

Of course, the whole idea is based off the original filmed science fiction, serials that ended up inspiring not only Star Trek but the Star Wars saga as well.  To see a Star Trek version of it is fun little tacit acknowledgment of that fact. 

The fun of it goes in a lot of directions.  Janeway's performance as Queen Arachnia is another fifth season breakthrough for the character (it's odd to wait five seasons for something like this, where Next Generation and Deep Space Nine had their third seasons for it, but it's worth the wait, and there's still "11:59" ahead, plus the dark "Equinox" saga), a rare opportunity to see Janeway in a lighter mood.  The aliens, like Species 8472 before them (last seen earlier in the season, "In the Flesh"), come from the rarely-employed vault of beings from another dimension who have no real concept of ours.  In the process, they are yet another examination on the nature of holographic life, which Voyager explored again and again, no doubt inspired by the Doctor.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A romp in the classic tradition.
• series - A chance to see the familiar characters in a different light.
• character - Particularly Janeway.
• essential - A classic romp, actually, in the classic tradition.

notable guest-stars:
Martin Rayner (Chaotica)

Voyager 5x1 "Night"

rating: ***

the story: The ship travels through a desolate region of space that leaves Janeway brooding about her original decision to strand it in the Delta Quadrant.

what it's all about: Usually a season premiere, like a season finale, is a pretty splashy affair that makes a bold statement.  "Night" is one of the rare examples where something else was attempted, and done so quite brilliantly: it's a moment of reflection, and a definitive one at that.

For four seasons, Janeway pressed ahead almost without question with the decision she made way back in the pilot ("Caretaker"), but she finally finds a scenario where there aren't any distractions to occupy her time, and suddenly she's no longer convinced that she did the right thing.  In fact, she beats herself up quite badly.  She isolates herself, and finally convinces herself that the crew would be better off without her.

For a series lambasted for never following up on the potential of its premise, this is a bold statement, and once again something few fans would have ever thought Voyager would even consider doing.

There's a lot of interesting things going on around this central element.  One of them is the region of space itself, a void where there's nothing to see, which is the reason Janeway becomes so moody.  Another is that the crew meets a couple of alien species anyway.  One of them is mere plot device, while the other is the Malon, who appear a few more times and thus become unexpected signature members of the series menagerie, a sort of ugly reflection of toxic industrialism that environmentalists are still battling today. 

Ah!  And the debut of Captain Proton!  This is sort of the apex of Tom Paris, in a lot of ways.  It's an old school (in black and white!) depiction of science fiction as it emerged in Hollywood, well before Star Trek set it on a new track, and before Star Wars exploded it, the old serials that inspired both of them and subsequently lost all their appeal.  Except in nostalgic appeal.  Picard had Dixon Hill; Tom's Proton is arguably just as iconic...But then, "Bride of Chaotica!" later in the season kind of helps solidify that...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This one's not really for casual fans.
• series - But it's must-see for dedicated ones, on a number of levels.
• character - A harrowing look at Janeway at her weakest moment.
• essential - Whether it's Janeway or Captain Proton, it's hard to underestimate how important this one is to the series.

notable guest-stars:
Martin Rayner (Chaotica)